Sylvan Walton, 16.
District 7 "Male"
Sylvan stood from his chair in the corner and moved to follow the President, as did the rest of the tributes. The mentors hung back, this being obviously not something they were going to accompany them on. They filed through the door into a long hallway, and Sylvan was brushing shoulders with two fellow tributes, on their left the boy from Ten who was massively tall, and the little girl from Nine, who was clinging onto a small stuffed dog. They didn't know what to do in this situation, so they said nothing, continuing to follow the pack. They stopped at the end of the hall, and President Snow-Tarro gestured the door.
"If you could all line up in order of your Districts, standing next to your partner that would be lovely. We'll be sending you through one District at a time." The crowd shifted and Sylvan moved towards the back of the line, ending up standing next to his District partner, Tovah. Tovah, in all honesty, gave them the heebie-jeebies. They knew she was known around town as having tried to raise some sort of spirit in the forest using some sort of ritual. No matter what she had done, they were afraid of her. As all the other tributes fell into their places, Sylvan watched over the boy in front of him's head, as the first pair stepped through the door. The line continued moving at a fair pace, but it seemed like forever to Sylvan. Finally, they arrived at the front of the line, the pair in front stepping through the door together. They waited a few seconds, and the door opened, and the President waived them through. They stepped into a small room, with two doors on each side. The doors opened, and the two stylists for Seven stepped through.
"Sylvan, if you could come with me." Said the one on the right. They were twins, their faces impossible to tell apart.
"Tovah, follow me." Tovah nodded and waved at Sylvan as she followed her through the opposite door. Sylvan did the same on the other side and followed their stylist who began chatting as they walked.
"It's nice to meet you, Sylvan, I'm Cecil McFly, and I'll be your stylist during your time here." They continued walking down the hall, past several closed doors. They eventually arrived at the white door, which slid open as they came to a stop. Cecil gestured for them to enter the room, which they did. It was a sort of spa looking room, which was pleasant enough until Cecil tossed a robe at them.
"Here, put this on."
"Just this?"
"Yup." Sylvan shuddered.
Sylvan sat on the couch with a slight shiver. They felt clean, too clean, their skin too smooth for their liking. Cecil poked his head back into the room, and he grinned at Sylvan.
"I see your prep team got you cleaned up nicely."
"Uh, thanks?" Cecil nodded and came into the room, sitting on a large plush chair across from them. Avox's appeared out of nowhere, placing trays of food on the small table between them. Sylvan grabbed a nearby plate and loaded it up with a few things. Cecil did the same across the table, and they ate in silence for a few minutes before Cecil spoke up.
"So would you like to see what you'll be wearing for the parade?" Sylvan nodded, and Cecil picked a bag up off the floor. He passed it across to Sylvan, who opened it, pulling the costume out.
"This? Really?" Cecil nodded with a grin.
Emmerson Finch, 14.
District 9 Male.
Emmerson pulled the black robes on and stepped out from behind the curtain. His stylist, Roman nodded in approval.
"Looks good, just gotta do some final touches." He pulled a metal crown out, which appeared to be made from wheat and placed it on his head. Emmerson smiled goofily as Roman took a step back.
"Looks perfect. Come look at yourself." Roman gestured to a large floor-length mirror that Emmerson moved to stand in front of. His ginger hair was slicked back and he was swathed in purple, black and grey robes, the golden crown shining in his hair. He looked grown-up, older than he was. He turned to Roman.
"Who am I supposed to be?" It was obvious he was dressed as someone, but he didn't have a clue as to who.
"Hades, the god of death. Your district partner, Tima will be Persephone, goddess of springtime and grain." Emmerson nodded and adjusted the golden woven belt around his waist.
"Ready to go?" Roman asked, gesturing to the door. Emmerson nodded, grinning.
"Ready!" They stepped out the door, walked down another long grey hall. They reached the end of the hall, and there was another identical white door. This one slid open, revealing a large space filled with chariots. Roman stepped through and Emmerson followed behind him, slightly intimidated as they walked by the two Twelve tributes and their chariot. The horses were bigger than any animal Emmerson had ever seen, and he was terrified of them, to say the least. They continued walking past the Eleven and Ten chariots and arrived at the Nine chariot. Seated on the back of it was Tima, robed similarly to him but in green and yellow and she had a halo-like golden crown nestled in her hair. She looked beautiful, and she grinned at Emmerson as he approached.
"Hey Em, come join me!" She smiled wider and patted the spot next to her. He moved to sit, as Roman and the other stylist moved together to talk.
"What's your stylist's name?" He asked, using an almost whisper since he felt as if his words would echo if he talked at a normal voice, the room was so big.
"Her names Halle, she designed this cool outfit!" Tima gestured to her robes, which were indeed cool.
"We match, what do you think of that?" Emmerson said with a grin. Tima giggled nervously.
"I think we look ridiculous. I just hope we don't make ourselves look like idiots out there." Tima said, pushing her round glasses up on her nose.
"I doubt we'll look too weird in comparison to those crazy Capitol people out there." Emmerson waived towards the giant bay doors and the dim roar of the crowd they could distantly hear. Tima laughed, nodding.
"Some of them do look pretty crazy you're right." Suddenly an alarm rang out, and Roman and Halle rushed over to where they were sitting.
"That's the five-minute alarm, cmon get up!" Roman said, gesturing for them to get up. They moved to stand towards the front of the chariot, and Emmerson gripped the front of the chariot, his knuckles white on the wood of the chariot. Tima grabbed his hand, looking over at him. He nodded, and they both stared ahead, trying to see what was going on up ahead. Another buzzer rang out, and the front chariots began moving. Roman called out as they rolled away.
"Don't forget to smile!" Emmerson looked over his shoulder and nodded. Smile, he could do that.
Genevive Tarro-Snow, 32.
President of Panem.
Genevive took her seat, leaning forward to watch the parade. The first chariot rolled into view and the legendary announcer, Quill's voice rang out across the crowd.
"Give it up for District One!" The two, very bedazzled tributes waived and the crowd went absolutely wild, that generally happened with Career districts. They appeared to be draped in jewels of all colours, the light bouncing off them and sending reflections out onto the crowd. Jade, the girl had a massive smirk on her face, appearing to love the attention. The boy, Sarmiento looked slightly tenser, and maybe a little uncomfortable, but she doubted the crowd would notice past his outfit. The next chariot rolled partially into view, and Quill announced it much the same as the first.
"Please welcome, District Two!" The crowd once again went wild at the sight of another set of Careers. Scipia was dressed as, what appeared to be a sexy gladiator, with her boobs half hanging out of the costume and a large bronze coloured helmet on her head, with the front of the faceplate open so her face was visible. She waved the fake spear around, and Matthias, standing next to her dressed as a giant crystal dodged her swings. He had a massive grin on his face, like he didn't mind being dressed as a giant crystal.
"Here's District Three!" The crowd was significantly less loud this time, but there was still a fair amount of cheers, as the pair rolled into the spotlights. Janna was dressed in a sort of steampunk type outfit, she was covered in cogs and she had a large top hat on her head, and a large pair of goggles pushed up on the rim of the hat. She had a pretty neutral look on her face, but she did wave to the crowd. Malec stood next to her, dressed as a sort of crazy scientist, his long blonde hair spiked up to look like it was sticking up on it's own. He stood stiffly, both hands gripping onto the chariot and his brow furrowed.
"Give a warm welcome for District Four!" The crowd's cheering picked up again, as the pair rolled into view. Cress looked to be dressed as a type of fisherman, with a large rubber bucket-shaped hat on his head and a large fishing rod with a fake fish on the end of it. Cress smiled broadly at the crowd, soaking up the attention like a sea sponge. Next to him, Molly stood still as a statue, in a highly revealing mermaid costume. Her hands were clenched tightly at her sides.
"It's District Five time!" The District Five pair rolled out, and the crowd's cheers picked up again. On the left was Beck, who was dressed as a sort of atom, smaller electrons and nuclei's swirling around him on wires. He gazed around the crowd, looking slightly bewildered, but eventually, he got the gist of the situation and he started waving. Armitage, stood next to him was in a sort of power plant worker suit, the heavy jumpsuit covering most of his body. He was also trying to look cheerful, but he didn't look the most pleased with the situation.
"Halfway through, meet District Six!" The next two, Z and Harry rolled into view. Z was dressed in a metallic looking plate outfit, and they looked vaguely like a sort of train. They had a strange, dazed look on their face as if they were completely in another word. Harry next to them was gripping onto the chariot with one hand, the other waiving aimlessly. He was dressed up as a giant wheel, and the corners of their costumes kept bouncing into each other.
"It's time for the lumberjacks, meet District Seven!" Sylvan and Tovah came into view, and they appeared to be dressed as some sort of wood sprites. Sylvan waived to the crowd, a massive grin on their face as they looked around, a look of almost bewilderment on their face. Next to them stood Tovah, who was still as a statue, a completely neutral look on her face. Genevive shuddered slightly, the girl gave her weird energy.
"District Eight? More like District Eh!" Saxony appeared to be some sort of rotting zombie, his face blank, emotionless, as he waved his hand aimlessly at the crowd, his brown eyes had a strange glint in them. Scarlett appeared to be encased in plastic plates, she looked like a sort of stiff mannequin. She looked quite annoyed about her limited range of motion, her face turning bright red as she struggled to move, the crowd laughing audibly.
"District Nine has arrived!" The young pair rolled into sight, dressed in matching Greek-inspired robes, Emmerson in black and grey and purple, a golden wheat crown nested in his hair and a golden belt around his waist. He had a massive goofy grin on his face and he was waiving enthusiastically. Tima next to him was swathed in green and yellows, an identical golden crown in her hair. She was waiving as well, slightly less enthusiastically as her partner.
"Put your hands together for District Ten!" Genevive took particular interest in this pair, since the one boy, Noah was massively tall, towering over Keenan. Keenan had a sort of suit, that looked almost like a cow pattern, black and white splotches covering the fabric. He was waiving at the crowd, but there was no pizzaz behind it really. Noah was dressed up as a shepherd, brown and white robes wrapped around his large frame. He wasn't doing much of anything, except looking around aimlessly.
"Almost to the end now, here's District Eleven!" This pair had matching farmer outfits, and Vino had a giant straw hat on his head that kept falling into his eyes. He was waiving very enthusiastically, a massive grin stretching from ear to ear. Briony looked significantly less happy her eyes glued to the ground in front of her, brow furrowed slightly.
"And to end off the night, please welcome District Twelve!" The last chariot appeared, Fervin was dressed as a fairly basic coal miner, a pickaxe slung over his shoulder. He seemed to be leaning as far away as possible from Iara while trying not to fall out of the chariot. Iara was dressed as a bird, like the canaries that they would send into the mine to test the air, she was dripping in yellow and orange feathers, and she was grinning tiredly. The chariots rolled to a stop in a semi-circle, all facing the balcony where Genevive sat. She stood, brushing the wrinkles out of her dress. She stepped up to the podium and began her speech.
"Welcome tributes to the two hundred and third Hunger Games!" The crowd roared loud as ever at her words.
"Only one of you will come out alive. It could be anyone of you. I wish you all luck in the arena, and may the odds be ever in your favour."
Molly McNamara, 16.
District 4 Female.
Molly hopped off the chariot, her hands unclenching. She stretched her arms out in front of her, cracking her knuckles satisfyingly. Cress hopped off the chariot, giving her a weird look.
"That's gross, could you not do that please?" Cress said, dropping his fishing rod on the ground and pulling the large bucket hat off his head.
"Well, I'm only doing it because I spent the entire chariot ride with my fists clenched." Molly replied. Cress shrugged at this.
"Oh, there you two are." Lexington said, walking up to them with their other mentor Erica trailing close behind.
"How'd we do?" Cress asked with a grin. Lexington turned to look over his shoulder at Erica and a look passed between them, although Molly wasn't sure what kind it was.
"You guys did great." Erica replied, with Lexington nodding in agreement.
"Now lets head upstairs and get to bed, tomorrow is the first day of training." Lexington said, gesturing for them to follow him which they did, walking towards a nearby elevator. They all stepped in and were soon joined by the pair from Eleven and their mentors. The girl quickly pulled off every accessory she was wearing and dropped them on the floor in a pile. Lexington reached out and hit the fourth-floor button, and then the eleventh-floor button, and the elevator took off at a rapid pace, quickly rising above the skyline of the Capitol. Molly practically had her face pressed against the glass of the elevator, looking out at the view. She wished she had her paints with her so she could capture the beauty of the city she was in, although she doubted she could do it justice. She glanced to her left and saw Cress, and the Eleven pair similarly awed.
"Pretty isn't it?" Lexington asked with a small laugh. Molly nodded as the elevator glided to a stop, the doors sliding open silently.
"Alright you two, this is our stop." Erica said, gesturing for them to get out of the elevator which they did. They emerged out into what seemed to be a sort of apartment. They were in the living room portion of it, a giant couch taking up much of the floor space. Cress ran over to said giant couch and flung himself on it with a giant smile.
"Why is this couch so big?!" Cress called out.
"It just is I guess." Erica responded with a shrug.
"Alright you two, time to head to your rooms. Molly on the left, Cress on the right." Lexington said, pointing at a nearby hallway. Cress hopped off the couch and ran down the hall, quickly picking a room. Molly followed behind, picking the one available room. She opened the door and stepped into the room. It was massive, with a huge bed and a whole small living room space. In the furthest corner, set up next to the window was a painters easel and paints next to it. She walked across the room to get a closer look and as she approached she saw the little note attached to the easel. It read:
Dear Molly. We hope you appreciate the paints. We heard you were quite the artist, so we decided to make your time here maybe a little more enjoyable. -Your Mentors.
Molly placed the note back down and ran her finger over the paints. She turned back and stepped into the closet, grabbing a pair of pyjamas, and went into the bathroom to take a shower.
Molly stepped out of the bathroom, having showered and gotten that stupid mermaid costume off. She returned to the easel, gazing out at the city skyline. Why sleep when she had a view like this to paint?
Wow, that was quite the chapter to write. I still need check-in's from like pretty much everyone, the check-in question can be found on chapter 17 so please try and send me those soon :D I'll be seeing you soon for training day 1! Signing off, Times.